Redblacks' defenders keeping 'noses to the grindstone,' not worrying about receiving credit

While much of the focus this season has been on an Ottawa Redblacks offence that runs hot and cold — to be fair, it has been gawdawful in four games and pretty good in the other nine — a very good defence has flown under the radar.

Allowing just 22.5 points per game, the Redblacks are second statistically to the Calgary Stampeders (20.3). The Redblacks have allowed just 94.5 rushing yards per game, third-best, behind Saskatchewan and Calgary. Their pass defence has allowed 258.6 yards passing per game, which stands fourth behind Hamilton, Calgary and Saskatchewan. Their 44 pass knockdowns are tied for first with B.C.

So Noel Thorpe, in his first year as the Redblacks’ defensive co-ordinator, and his players are certainly doing plenty of things right. And while it doesn’t seem like the Redblacks’ defensive group gets credit like, say Calgary or Saskatchewan, they’re not looking for a pat on the back.

“All we can do is focus on what we need to focus on,” said Redblacks linebacker Kevin Brown. “We let the people on the outside talk. Everybody has an opinion, they want to rank everybody top to bottom. Our focus is on winning football games.”

Asked if the defence gets enough recognition, Thorpe said, “That’s what you guys do. We don’t worry about credit. We’ve got a job to do, we’ll go out there, do our job and keep our noses to the grindstone.

“Here’s the deal: We want to be as consistent as possible. If we can be consistent and bring our effort level and our energy, we believe good things will happen. We face a good offence every day. That helps make us better. As they say, iron sharpens iron, and that’s what we look to do out here. Developing a level of consistency, a level of confidence in what we do — these guys and the coaching staff are working hard to do that.”

In the past couple of weeks, the Redblacks’ defence has played tough against Edmonton (a 28-15 win) and Saskatchewan (a 30-25 win). In mid-August, it came up big in a 44-21 road win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the team Ottawa will line up against Friday night at TD Place. As Redblacks coach Rick Campbell likes to say, the arrow is pointing up.

“That comes back to how we approach ourselves in the meeting room, how we approach ourselves with our film session, how we come in and take the field,” said Thorpe. “We constantly strive to get better. What we’ve done in a previous series of downs or a previous game, we have to come off the field with a real laser-like focus. That’s where it starts, that arrow up is about getting better every day.”

Other than a 42-41 loss to Toronto earlier this season, in which the Redblacks blew a 24-point lead, defence has been a foundation for the team. And Brown said there’s still a lot of room to get even stronger as the season winds down into the playoffs in the next month.

“We understand the defence and we understand that we have to operate as one unit, not as individuals,” he said. “We’ve been making plays, but there’s always room for improvement. It’s crazy; when we watch the film, there are always things to correct, always things we can be better at.”

While the defence is getting high-level production out of several veterans, rookies have also played into the success.

“The game moves fast for these guys in the beginning and has slowed down,” said Thorpe. “You see that with Anthony Cioffi. Not only does he play fast, he has gotten better every game. There’s a lot of motion, there’s a lot of formation adjustment. You have to have the ability to play with good eye discipline, that’s one thing we coach to and it’s one thing these guys are developing. A guy like Randall Evans came in and played halfback, then moved to corner for us. He demonstrated the ability we look for — consistency, being a solid, physical football player and having good man coverage skills. You can also point to No. 42 (Avery Williams) for us. What a job he’s done in there. We really like the things we’ve seen.”

WILL PRUNEAU PLAY? Two days away from a game against Winnipeg, offensive lineman Nolan MacMillan and safety Antoine Pruneau watched as their team practised Wednesday. On Tuesday, Redblacks coach Rick Campbell seemed optimistic both would be good to go Friday. Not so much on Wednesday. Said Campbell: “I’m a little less optimistic than I was about both those guys. I’m not going to tell you they’re not playing — both those guys are capable of doing it. You always have to make sure they’re medically cleared. If they’re cleared and they say they’re ready to go, you’ll always let a guy play.” If MacMillan doesn’t play, look for Jon Gott to line up at guard. If Pruneau can’t go, it could be Zed Brown or J.P. Bolduc at safety. Depending which way they go there, it could necessitate starting a second Canadian receiver, likely Julian Feoli-Gudino.

THE END AROUND: Two weeks ago against Edmonton, the Redblacks had three touchdowns wiped out by penalties — a pass to J-C Beaulieu was called back because of an illegal block, a pass to Mark Korte was taken away because of a penalty for illegal interference and a 77-yard punt return by Diontae Spencer was negated by a flag for an illegal block. Asked about the penalties, Campbell said: “We always talk about penalties. You want to stay away from all penalties, but especially with the return game — there’s too much field position at stake.” … For anybody wondering, the CFL trade deadline is Oct. 10. … In a CFL.ca feature story by former McMaster Marauders QB Marshall Ferguson, he compared Redblacks QB Trevor Harris to Cincinnati Bengals QB Andy Dalton (taking plenty of variables into consideration). … There are still tickets available for Friday’s home game.

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